6 Alabama kids were on life support with flu

These were otherwise healthy children who came down with a severe strain of seasonal flu. The original link to the local news is included but takes forever to load so that I decided to use a link from someone following this story at Flutrackers and will also include his follow up with the covering reporter. These kids are not the usual victims of seasonal flu which is one of the reasons why this is of concern:FluTrackers - View Single Post - 6 Alabama children with flu on life support

I found it on the local news, but I have to wonder why CNN or MSNBC hasn't picked up a story like that.

Dec 27, '06

Occupation: SICU Nurse
Joined: May '06; Posts: 120; Likes: 17

One of these children belongs to my sister-in-laws boss. It is unbelievable how fast the child went down hill. The child had flu-like symptoms a few days after thanksgiving into respiratory arrest two days later. The child is still in hospital --gradually doing better -but not out of the woods yet!

Wow, that is terrible. Keep this story updated! So does this years flu vaccine seem to be covering the strains that are actually circulating?

Dec 28, '06

Occupation: SICU Nurse
Joined: May '06; Posts: 120; Likes: 17

The child I spoke of is on ECMO and currently doing about 60% on her own. Things are looking up. Say prayers for the family--they are ragged tired. While your at it --pray for the MD's and nurses caring for her.

I found it on the local news, but I have to wonder why CNN or MSNBC hasn't picked up a story like that.

I was just going to say samething. Strange it has not been on evening news or in the paper. The only reason I know there is a flu outbreak in southern states is because I have been following the CDC web site.

Dec 28, '06

Joined: Apr '00; Posts: 24,611; Likes: 35,453

interesting.
it would seem the media doesn't want to panic the nation;
or put undue pressure on the cdc, fda to produce a serum specific to this flu.

My girls had the flu twice already and have missed a lot of school. Next year, they WILL get flu shots. I work in the lab and the number of positive flu tests has been very high. My hubby has never taken a flu shot in his life. He's now been sick for a week. He said he's going to break down and get one next year also.

The flu is bad right now here in NC. My daughter had 11 kids out in her class last week. The teacher said she was told it was the flu. I'm not sure if they had the actual nasal swab done or not, but there is a lot of sickness going around regardless. The mild weather isn't helping at all.

I would like to see some viral sequences released from some of these kids. Maybe they have been, and I just have not heard about it yet.
That might give us some clues as to why this strain is so virulent. I know that this information exists in some data base somewhere. Is it too much to ask that it be shared with the public?

I would like to see some viral sequences released from some of these kids. Maybe they have been, and I just have not heard about it yet.
That might give us some clues as to why this strain is so virulent. I know that this information exists in some data base somewhere. Is it too much to ask that it be shared with the public?

They did a nasal swab on my daughters and it was positive for Influenza type A. They were put on Tamiflu, but unable to finish it because they had a reaction to it. My husband took it, but he still ended up with type A Influenza also.

I know for a fact that there are a lot of people testing positive for it because the lab that I work in is fairly small and they do in-house testing. One day last week, I hear all day long "Another positive influenza over here".

I thought that all the positive tests had to be reported and avaliable to the general public.

I would like to go ahead and get my girls a flu shot now (it's never too late), but they still have what seems to be lingering mild cold symptoms and I want to wait until they're completely better.